How did Claude Fischler mock nouvelle cuisine in his Le Monde article?

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Wagyu beef — nouvelle cuisine Grilled dry-aged Wagyu rib eye steak with asparagus and charred onions.

In his 1979 Le Monde article, "The Socrates of the Nouvelle Cuisine," sociologist Claude Fischler subtly mocked the movement's philosophical shift regarding the chef's role. Rather than attacking the food directly, he satirized the pretension of chefs who viewed themselves as facilitators of "culinary truth" rather than traditional cooks.

Fischler described this new archetype as follows:

"The artist in this field is no longer characterized by his overpowering authority, but rather by the opinionated modesty of an exponent of the maieutic art: In place of the cook as mercenary of the kitchen stove, we now have the Socratic cook, midwife at the birth of culinary truth."1

By framing the chef as a "Socratic" figure or "midwife" to ingredients, Fischler highlighted the movement's intense, often self-important focus on allowing the natural flavors of food to express themselves, contrasting this with the traditional authority of the professional chef.1